Abstract

The Future of Business Survey is a new source of information on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Launched in February 2016, the monthly survey - a partnership between Facebook, OECD, and The World Bank - provides a timely pulse on the economic environment in which businesses operate and who those businesses are to help inform decision-making at all levels and to deliver insights that can help businesses grow. The Future of Business Survey provides a perspective from newer and long-standing digitalized businesses and provides a unique window into a new mobilized economy.

Policymakers, researchers and businesses share a common interest in the environment in which SMEs operate, as well their outlook on the future, not least because young and innovative SMEs in particular are often an important source of considerable economic and employment growth. Better insights and timely information about SMEs improve our understanding of economic trends, and can provide new insights that can further stimulate and help these businesses grow.

To help provide these insights, Facebook, OECD and The World Bank have collaborated to develop a monthly survey that attempts to improve our understanding of SMEs in a timely and forward-looking manner. The three organizations share a desire to create new ways to hear from businesses and help them succeed in the emerging digitally-connected economy. The shared goal is to help policymakers, researchers, and businesses better understand business sentiment, and to leverage a digital platform to provide a unique source of information to complement existing indicators.

With more businesses leveraging online tools each day, the survey provides a lens into a new mobilized, digital economy and, in particular, insights on the actors: a relatively unmeasured community worthy of deeper consideration and considerable policy interest.

Geographic coverage

When the survey was initially launched in February 2016, it included 22 countries. When the survey was initially launched in February 2016, it included 22 countries. The Future of Business Survey is now conducted in over 90 countries in every region of the world.

Countries included in at least one wave: Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas (the) Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bolivia (Plurinational State of) Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cabo Verde Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cayman Islands (the) Central African Republic (the) Chad Chile Colombia Congo (the) Curaçao Cyprus Czechia Côte d'Ivoire Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic (the) Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia Faroe Islands (the) Fiji Finland France French Polynesia Gabon Gambia (the) Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kenya Korea (the Republic of) Kuwait Lao People's Democratic Republic (the) Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malawi Malaysia Mali Malta Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Monaco Montenegro Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nepal Netherlands (the) New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger (the) Nigeria North Macedonia Northern Mariana Islands (the) Norway Oman Pakistan Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines (the) Poland Portugal Qatar Romania Russian Federation (the) Rwanda Réunion Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten (Dutch part) Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands South Africa Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Tanzania, the United Republic of Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turks and Caicos Islands (the) Uganda United Arab Emirates (the) United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the) United States of America (the) Uruguay Vanuatu Viet Nam Virgin Islands (British) Virgin Islands (U.S.) Zambia.

Analysis unit

The study describes small and medium-sized enterprises.

Universe

The target population consists of SMEs that have an active Facebook business Page and include both newer and longer-standing businesses, spanning across a variety of sectors. With more businesses leveraging online tools each day, the survey provides a lens into a new mobilized, digital economy and, in particular, insights on the actors: a relatively unmeasured community worthy of deeper consideration and considerable policy interest.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Twice a year in over 97 countries, the Facebook Survey Team sends the Future of Business to admins and owners of Facebook-designated small business pages. When we share data from this survey, we anonymize responses to all survey questions and only share country-level data publicly. To achieve better representation of the broader small business population, we also weight our results based on known characteristics of the Facebook Page admin population.

A random sample of firms, representing the target population in each country, is selected to respond to the Future of Business Survey each month.

Mode of data collection

Internet [int]

Research instrument

The survey includes questions about perceptions of current and future economic activity, challenges, business characteristics and strategy. Custom modules include questions related to regulation, access to finance, digital payments, and digital skills. The full questionnaire is available for download.

Response rate

Response rates to online surveys vary widely depending on a number of factors including survey length, region, strength of the relationship with invitees, incentive mechanisms, invite copy, interest of respondents in the topic and survey design.

Note: Response rates are calculated as the number of respondents who completed the survey divided by the total number of SMEs invited.

Sampling error estimates

Any survey data is prone to several forms of error and biases that need to be considered to understand how closely the results reflect the intended population. In particular, the following components of the total survey error are noteworthy:

Sampling error is a natural characteristic of every survey based on samples and reflects the uncertainty in any survey result that is attributable to the fact that not the whole population is surveyed.

Other factors beyond sampling error that contribute to such potential differences are frame or coverage error (sampling frame of page owners does not include all relevant businesses but also may include individuals that don't represent businesses), and nonresponse error.

Note that the sample is meant to reflect the population of businesses on Facebook, not the population of small businesses in general. This group of digitized SMEs is itself a community worthy of deeper consideration and of considerable policy interest. However, care should be taken when extrapolating to the population of SMEs in general. Moreover, future work should evaluate the external validity of the sample. Particularly, respondents should be compared to the broader population of SMEs on Facebook, and the economy as a whole.

Abstract

The Future of Business Survey is a new source of information on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Launched in February 2016, the monthly survey - a partnership between Facebook, OECD, and The World Bank - provides a timely pulse on the economic environment in which businesses operate and who those businesses are to help inform decision-making at all levels and to deliver insights that can help businesses grow. The Future of Business Survey provides a perspective from newer and long-standing digitalized businesses and provides a unique window into a new mobilized economy.

Policymakers, researchers and businesses share a common interest in the environment in which SMEs operate, as well their outlook on the future, not least because young and innovative SMEs in particular are often an important source of considerable economic and employment growth. Better insights and timely information about SMEs improve our understanding of economic trends, and can provide new insights that can further stimulate and help these businesses grow.

To help provide these insights, Facebook, OECD and The World Bank have collaborated to develop a monthly survey that attempts to improve our understanding of SMEs in a timely and forward-looking manner. The three organizations share a desire to create new ways to hear from businesses and help them succeed in the emerging digitally-connected economy. The shared goal is to help policymakers, researchers, and businesses better understand business sentiment, and to leverage a digital platform to provide a unique source of information to complement existing indicators.

With more businesses leveraging online tools each day, the survey provides a lens into a new mobilized, digital economy and, in particular, insights on the actors: a relatively unmeasured community worthy of deeper consideration and considerable policy interest.

Geographic coverage

When the survey was initially launched in February 2016, it included 22 countries. When the survey was initially launched in February 2016, it included 22 countries. The Future of Business Survey is now conducted in over 90 countries in every region of the world.

Analysis unit

The study describes small and medium-sized enterprises.

Universe

The target population consists of SMEs that have an active Facebook business Page and include both newer and longer-standing businesses, spanning across a variety of sectors. With more businesses leveraging online tools each day, the survey provides a lens into a new mobilized, digital economy and, in particular, insights on the actors: a relatively unmeasured community worthy of deeper consideration and considerable policy interest.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Twice a year in over 97 countries, the Facebook Survey Team sends the Future of Business to admins and owners of Facebook-designated small business pages. When we share data from this survey, we anonymize responses to all survey questions and only share country-level data publicly. To achieve better representation of the broader small business population, we also weight our results based on known characteristics of the Facebook Page admin population.

A random sample of firms, representing the target population in each country, is selected to respond to the Future of Business Survey each month.

Mode of data collection

Internet [int]

Research instrument

The survey includes questions about perceptions of current and future economic activity, challenges, business characteristics and strategy. Custom modules include questions related to regulation, access to finance, digital payments, and digital skills. The full questionnaire is available for download.

The questionnaire was pretested by the target audience, as well as experts from the area of research interest. Additionally, steps were taken to translate the survey in order to reduce sensitivities to cultural response bias: - Respondents were given the option to respond to the survey in any of fifteen languages native to the countries in which it was conducted. - Translations were done only by native speakers, with two rounds of additional online checks in the context of the survey environment. - Translators were provided with context material for this survey (e.g., the Facebook for Business website) in order to understand the context of the survey. They were also instructed to take the English survey at least two times before starting with the translations. - Translations were discussed in a group in order to ensure a common understanding of questions and items. - The tone (formal vs. informal) of the survey was based on cultural conventions, e.g., Facebook usually uses an informal tone, while in cultures such as the Japanese this is very uncommon and thus a formal tone was used there.

Response rate

Response rates to online surveys vary widely depending on a number of factors including survey length, region, strength of the relationship with invitees, incentive mechanisms, invite copy, interest of respondents in the topic and survey design.

Note: Response rates are calculated as the number of respondents who completed the survey divided by the total number of SMEs invited.

Sampling error estimates

Any survey data is prone to several forms of error and biases that need to be considered to understand how closely the results reflect the intended population. In particular, the following components of the total survey error are noteworthy:

Sampling error is a natural characteristic of every survey based on samples and reflects the uncertainty in any survey result that is attributable to the fact that not the whole population is surveyed.

Other factors beyond sampling error that contribute to such potential differences are frame or coverage error (sampling frame of page owners does not include all relevant businesses but also may include individuals that don't represent businesses), and nonresponse error.

Note that the sample is meant to reflect the population of businesses on Facebook, not the population of small businesses in general. This group of digitized SMEs is itself a community worthy of deeper consideration and of considerable policy interest. However, care should be taken when extrapolating to the population of SMEs in general. Moreover, future work should evaluate the external validity of the sample. Particularly, respondents should be compared to the broader population of SMEs on Facebook, and the economy as a whole.

This table provides up-to-date information about the opinions held by Dutch entrepreneurs on their achievements, expectations and judgments regarding their business. This panel is aimed at gaining insight into the current situation, future development and judgments of Dutch enterprises. As a result it is possible to detect turning points in optimism or pessimism at an early stage, providing an early indication of possible trend changes in the economic activities of Dutch enterprises. Data are broken down by region. The questions submitted to the entrepreneurs at the beginning of a quarter concern output, turnover, prices, order books, stocks, investments, competitive position, economic climate, staff size and the obstacles they have encountered. In answering the questions relating to developments in the past three months and expectations for the next three months, the entrepreneurs are asked for a comparison with the preceding period of three months.

The aggregation ‘all enterprises (no finance or energy)’ includes all available branches questioned in the Business Survey Netherlands. Because not every branch is questioned monthly, this aggregation will only have data available for the first month of each quarter. The aggregation ‘C industry, H-S services and 45+47’ includes all monthly questioned branches and serves as a subtotal of the monthly questionnaire.

Data available from: January 2012

Status of the figures: All figures are definitive.

Changes as of February 6th 2025: Figures of January 2025 have been added.

During an evaluation of the weights being used for the business survey, it became apparent that in recent years the weights for construction in the figures for the total of all enterprises (no finance or energy) were too large to be economically justified. For this reason the weights for constructions have been decreased and this has been applied to the entire time series. This caused a slight shift in most figures for the total of all enterprises (no finance or energy).

Figures for the subject ‘Capacity utilisation’ are now available for all branches within wholesale and retail trade and services. The method for calculating the capacity utilisation slightly differs from the calculation of the capacity utilisation for the branches mining and quarrying and manufacturing. More information about the difference can be found in the description of this topic.

The topic ‘Profitability next three months’ has been added.

Changes as of March 7th 2024: Due to a technical issue most figures of February 2024 were divided by 100. This now has been corrected.

When will new figures be published? Figures of February 2025 are expected to be published the 27th of February 2025.

Abstract

The Future of Business Survey is a new source of information on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Launched in February 2016, the monthly survey - a partnership between Facebook, OECD, and The World Bank - provides a timely pulse on the economic environment in which businesses operate and who those businesses are to help inform decision-making at all levels and to deliver insights that can help businesses grow. The Future of Business Survey provides a perspective from newer and long-standing digitalized businesses and provides a unique window into a new mobilized economy.

Policymakers, researchers and businesses share a common interest in the environment in which SMEs operate, as well their outlook on the future, not least because young and innovative SMEs in particular are often an important source of considerable economic and employment growth. Better insights and timely information about SMEs improve our understanding of economic trends, and can provide new insights that can further stimulate and help these businesses grow.

To help provide these insights, Facebook, OECD and The World Bank have collaborated to develop a monthly survey that attempts to improve our understanding of SMEs in a timely and forward-looking manner. The three organizations share a desire to create new ways to hear from businesses and help them succeed in the emerging digitally-connected economy. The shared goal is to help policymakers, researchers, and businesses better understand business sentiment, and to leverage a digital platform to provide a unique source of information to complement existing indicators.

With more businesses leveraging online tools each day, the survey provides a lens into a new mobilized, digital economy and, in particular, insights on the actors: a relatively unmeasured community worthy of deeper consideration and considerable policy interest.

Geographic coverage

When the survey was initially launched in February 2016, it included 22 countries. The Future of Business Survey is conducted in over 90 countries in every region of the world.

Analysis unit

The study describes small and medium-sized enterprises.

Universe

The target population consists of SMEs that have an active Facebook business Page and include both newer and longer-standing businesses, spanning across a variety of sectors. With more businesses leveraging online tools each day, the survey provides a lens into a new mobilized, digital economy and, in particular, insights on the actors: a relatively unmeasured community worthy of deeper consideration and considerable policy interest.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Twice a year in over 97 countries, the Facebook Survey Team sends the Future of Business to admins and owners of Facebook-designated small business pages. When we share data from this survey, we anonymize responses to all survey questions and only share country-level data publicly. To achieve better representation of the broader small business population, we also weight our results based on known characteristics of the Facebook Page admin population. A random sample of firms, representing the target population in each country, is selected to respond to the Future of Business Survey each month.

Mode of data collection

Internet [int]

Research instrument

The survey includes questions about perceptions of current and future economic activity, challenges, business characteristics and strategy. Custom modules include questions related to regulation, access to finance, digital payments, and digital skills. The full questionnaire is available for download.

Response rate

Response rates to online surveys vary widely depending on a number of factors including survey length, region, strength of the relationship with invitees, incentive mechanisms, invite copy, interest of respondents in the topic and survey design. Note: Response rates are calculated as the number of respondents who completed the survey divided by the total number of SMEs invited.

Sampling error estimates

Any survey data is prone to several forms of error and biases that need to be considered to understand how closely the results reflect the intended population. In particular, the following components of the total survey error are noteworthy: Sampling error is a natural characteristic of every survey based on samples and reflects the uncertainty in any survey result that is attributable to the fact that not the whole population is surveyed. Other factors beyond sampling error that contribute to such potential differences are frame or coverage error (sampling frame of Page owners does not include all relevant businesses but also may include individuals that don’t represent businesses), and nonresponse error. Note that the sample is meant to reflect the population of businesses on Facebook, not the population of small businesses in general. This group of digitized SMEs is itself a community worthy of deeper consideration and of considerable policy interest. However, care should be taken when extrapolating to the population of SMEs in general. Moreover, future work should evaluate the external validity of the sample. Particularly, respondents should be compared to the broader population of SMEs on Facebook, and the economy as a whole.

Abstract

The intention is to collect data for the calendar year 2009 (or the nearest year for which each business keeps its accounts. The survey is considered a one-off survey, although for accurate NAs, such a survey should be conducted at least every five years to enable regular updating of the ratios, etc., needed to adjust the ongoing indicator data (mainly VAGST) to NA concepts. The questionnaire will be drafted by FSD, largely following the previous BAS, updated to current accounting terminology where necessary. The questionnaire will be pilot tested, using some accountants who are likely to complete a number of the forms on behalf of their business clients, and a small sample of businesses. Consultations will also include Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Labour, Central Bank of Samoa (CBS), Samoa Tourism Authority, Chamber of Commerce, and other business associations (hotels, retail, etc.).

The questionnaire will collect a number of items of information about the business ownership, locations at which it operates and each establishment for which detailed data can be provided (in the case of complex businesses), contact information, and other general information needed to clearly identify each unique business. The main body of the questionnaire will collect data on income and expenses, to enable value added to be derived accurately. The questionnaire will also collect data on capital formation, and will contain supplementary pages for relevant industries to collect volume of production data for selected commodities and to collect information to enable an estimate of value added generated by key tourism activities.

The principal user of the data will be FSD which will incorporate the survey data into benchmarks for the NA, mainly on the current published production measure of GDP. The information on capital formation and other relevant data will also be incorporated into the experimental estimates of expenditure on GDP. The supplementary data on volumes of production will be used by FSD to redevelop the industrial production index which has recently been transferred under the SBS from the CBS. The general information about the business ownership, etc., will be used to update the Business Register.

Outputs will be produced in a number of formats, including a printed report containing descriptive information of the survey design, data tables, and analysis of the results. The report will also be made available on the SBS website in “.pdf” format, and the tables will be available on the SBS website in excel tables. Data by region may also be produced, although at a higher level of aggregation than the national data. All data will be fully confidentialised, to protect the anonymity of all respondents. Consideration may also be made to provide, for selected analytical users, confidentialised unit record files (CURFs).

A high level of accuracy is needed because the principal purpose of the survey is to develop revised benchmarks for the NA. The initial plan was that the survey will be conducted as a stratified sample survey, with full enumeration of large establishments and a sample of the remainder.

Geographic coverage

National Coverage

Analysis unit

The main statistical unit to be used for the survey is the establishment. For simple businesses that undertake a single activity at a single location there is a one-to-one relationship between the establishment and the enterprise. For large and complex enterprises, however, it is desirable to separate each activity of an enterprise into establishments to provide the most detailed information possible for industrial analysis. The business register will need to be developed in such a way that records the links between establishments and their parent enterprises. The business register will be created from administrative records and may not have enough information to recognize all establishments of complex enterprises. Large businesses will be contacted prior to the survey post-out to determine if they have separate establishments. If so, the extended structure of the enterprise will be recorded on the business register and a questionnaire will be sent to the enterprise to be completed for each establishment.

SBS has decided to follow the New Zealand simplified version of its statistical units model for the 2009 BAS. Future surveys may consider location units and enterprise groups if they are found to be useful for statistical collections.

It should be noted that while establishment data may enable the derivation of detailed benchmark accounts, it may be necessary to aggregate up to enterprise level data for the benchmarks if the ongoing data used to extrapolate the benchmark forward (mainly VAGST) are only available at the enterprise level.

Universe

The BAS's covered all employing units, and excluded small non-employing units such as the market sellers. The surveys also excluded central government agencies engaged in public administration (ministries, public education and health, etc.). It only covers businesses that pay the VAGST. (Threshold SAT$75,000 and upwards).

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

-Total Sample Size was 1240 -Out of the 1240, 902 successfully completed the questionnaire. -The other remaining 338 either never responded or were omitted (some businesses were ommitted from the sample as they do not meet the requirement to be surveyed) -Selection was all employing units paying VAGST (Threshold SAT $75,000 upwards)

WILL CONFIRM LATER!!

OSO LE MEA E LE FAASA...AEA :-)

Mode of data collection

Mail Questionnaire [mail]

Research instrument

1. General instructions, authority for the survey, etc;
2. Business demography information on ownership, contact details, structure, etc.;
3. Employment;
4. Income;
5. Expenses;
6. Inventories;
7. Profit or loss and reconciliation to business accounts' profit and loss;
8. Fixed assets - purchases, disposals, book values
9. Thank you and signature of respondent.

Supplementary Pages Additional pages have been prepared to collect data for a limited range of industries. 1.Production data. To rebase and redevelop the Industrial Production Index (IPI), it is intended to collect volume of production information from a selection of large manufacturing businesses. The selection of businesses and products is critical to the usefulness of the IPI. The products must be homogeneous, and be of enough importance to the economy to justify collecting the data. Significance criteria should be established for the selection of products to include in the IPI, and the 2009 BAS provides an opportunity to collect benchmark data for a range of products known to be significant (based on information in the existing IPI, CPI weights, export data, etc.) as well as open questions for respondents to provide information on other significant products. 2.Tourism. There is a strong demand for estimates of tourism value added. To estimate tourism value added using the international standard Tourism Satellite Account methodology requires the use of an input-output table, which is beyond the capacity of SBS at present. However, some indicative estimates of the main parts of the economy influenced by tourism can be derived if the necessary data are collected. Tourism is a demand concept, based on defining tourists (the international standard includes both international and domestic tourists), what products are characteristically purchased by tourists, and which industries supply those products. Some questions targeted at those industries that have significant involvement with tourists (hotels, restaurants, transport and tour operators, vehicle hire, etc.), on how much of their income is sourced from tourism would provide valuable indicators of the size of the direct impact of tourism.

Cleaning operations

Partial imputation was done at the time of receipt of questionnaires, after follow-up procedures to obtain fully completed questionnaires have been followed. Imputation followed a process, i.e., apply ratios from responding units in the imputation cell to the partial data that was supplied. Procedures were established during the editing stage (a) to preserve the integrity of the questionnaires as supplied by respondents, and (b) to record all changes made to the questionnaires during editing. If SBS staff writes on the form, for example, this should only be done in red pen, to distinguish the alterations from the original information.

Additional edit checks were developed, including checking against external data at enterprise/establishment level. External data to be checked against include VAGST and SNPF for turnover and purchases, and salaries and wages and employment data respectively. Editing and imputation processes were undertaken by FSD using Excel.

Sampling error estimates

NOT APPLICABLE!!

This table provides up-to-date information, including uncertainty margins, about the opinions held by Dutch entrepreneurs on their achievements, expectations and judgments regarding their business. This panel survey is aimed at gaining insight into the current situation, future development and judgments of Dutch enterprises. As a result it is possible to detect turning points in optimism or pessimism at an early stage, providing an early indication of possible trend changes in the economic activities of Dutch enterprises. Data are broken down by main business activity (SITC 2008). The questions submitted to the entrepreneurs at the beginning of a quarter concern output, turnover, prices, order books, stocks, investments, competitive position, economic climate, staff size and the obstacles they have encountered. In answering the questions relating to developments in the past three months and expectations for the next three months, the entrepreneurs are asked for a comparison with the preceding period of three months.

Data available from: January 2012

Status of the figures: All figures are definitive.

Changes as of February 27th 2025: Figures of February 2025 have been added.

When will new figures be published? Figures of March 2025 are expected to be published the 28th of March 2025.

Monthly response rates for the UK Monthly Business Survey (production) by turnover and questionnaire.

More than 200 million businesses use Facebook globally. The goal of Meta’s quarterly Small Business Surveys is to learn about the unique perspectives, challenges and opportunities of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

The Future of Business (FoB) Survey is conducted biannually in partnership with the World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) across nearly 100 countries. The target population consists of SMEs that have an active Facebook Business Page and include both newer and longer-standing businesses, spanning across a variety of sectors. Meta also conducts the Global State of Small Business (GSoSB) Survey bi-annually in partnership with various academic partners across approximately 30 countries. Similarly to the FoB Survey, the target population is active Facebook Page Administrators, but also includes the general population of Facebook users.

Survey questions for all surveys cover a range of topics depending on the survey wave such as business characteristics, challenges, financials and strategy in addition to custom modules related to regulation, gender inequity, access to finance, digital technologies, reduction in revenues, business closures, international trade, inflation, reduction of employees and challenges/needs of the business.

Aggregated country level data for each survey wave is available to the public on HDX and controlled access microdata is available to Data for Good at Meta partners. Please visit https://dataforgood.facebook.com/dfg/tools/future-of-business-survey to apply for access to microdata or contact dataforgood@fb.com for any questions.

Biennial Business Survey data summary for Quality of Business Services survey results. The Business Survey question that relates to this dataset is: “Quality of services provided by City of Tempe” Respondents are asked to rate their satisfaction level using a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 means "Very Dissatisfied" and 5 means "Very Satisfied".This page provides data for the Quality of Business Services performance measure.The performance measure dashboard is available at 5.01 Quality of Business Services.Additional InformationSource: Business Survey (Vendor: ETC Institute) Contact: Wydale HolmesContact E-Mail: wydale_holmes@tempe.govData Source Type: .pdf, ExcelPreparation Method: The City contracts with a vendor to conduct the survey, analyze the data and prepare for publication.Publish Frequency: Every other yearPublish Method: Manual, .pdfData Dictionary

Abstract

The objective of the survey is to obtain feedback from enterprises in client countries on the state of the private sector as well as to help in building a panel of enterprise data that will make it possible to track changes in the business environment over time, thus allowing, for example, impact assessments of reforms. Through interviews with firms in the manufacturing and services sectors, the survey assesses the constraints to private sector growth and creates statistically significant business environment indicators that are comparable across countries.

The standard Enterprise Survey topics include firm characteristics, gender participation, access to finance, annual sales, costs of inputs/labor, workforce composition, bribery, licensing, infrastructure, trade, crime, competition, capacity utilization, land and permits, taxation, informality, business-government relations, innovation and technology, and performance measures. Over 90% of the questions objectively ascertain characteristics of a country’s business environment. The remaining questions assess the survey respondents’ opinions on what are the obstacles to firm growth and performance. The mode of data collection is face-to-face interviews.

Geographic coverage

National

Analysis unit

The primary sampling unit of the study is the establishment. An establishment is a physical location where business is carried out and where industrial operations take place or services are provided. A firm may be composed of one or more establishments. For example, a brewery may have several bottling plants and several establishments for distribution. For the purposes of this survey an establishment must make its own financial decisions and have its own financial statements separate from those of the firm. An establishment must also have its own management and control over its payroll.

Universe

The manufacturing and services sectors are the primary business sectors of interest. This corresponds to firms classified with International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC) codes 15-37, 45, 50-52, 55, 60-64, and 72 (ISIC Rev.3.1). Formal (registered) companies with 5 or more employees are targeted for interview. Services firms include construction, retail, wholesale, hotels, restaurants, transport, storage, communications, and IT. Firms with 100% government/state ownership are not eligible to participate in an Enterprise Survey.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The sample for Azerbaijan was selected using stratified random sampling. Three levels of stratification were used in this country: industry, establishment size, and oblast (region).

Industry stratification was designed in the way that follows: the universe was stratified into 23 manufacturing industries, 2 services industries -retail and IT-, and one residual sector. Each sector had a target of 90 interviews.

Size stratification was defined following the standardized definition for the rollout: small (5 to 19 employees), medium (20 to 99 employees), and large (more than 99 employees). For stratification purposes, the number of employees was defined on the basis of reported permanent full-time workers. This seems to be an appropriate definition of the labor force since seasonal/casual/part-time employment is not a common practice, except in the sectors of construction and agriculture.

Regional stratification was defined in eight regions. These regions are Praha, Stredni Cechy, Jihozapad, Severozapad, Severovychod, Jihovychod, Stredni Morava, and Moravskoslezsko.

Given the stratified design, sample frames containing a complete and updated list of establishments for the selected regions were required. Great efforts were made to obtain the best source for these listings. However, the quality of the sample frames was not optimal and, therefore, some adjustments were needed to correct for the presence of ineligible units. These adjustments are reflected in the weights computation.

For most countries covered in BEEPS IV, two sample frames were used. The first was supplied by the World Bank and consisted of enterprises interviewed in BEEPS 2005. The World Bank required that attempts should be made to re-interview establishments responding to the BEEPS 2005 survey where they were within the selected geographical regions and met eligibility criteria. That sample is referred to as the Panel. The second frame for the Czech Republic was an official database known as Albertina data [Creditinfo Czech Republic], which is obtained from the complete Business Register [RES] of the Czech Statistical Office. An extract from that frame was sent to the TNS statistical team in London to select the establishments for interview.

The quality of the frame was assessed at the onset of the project. The frame proved to be useful though it showed positive rates of non-eligibility, repetition, non-existent units, etc. These problems are typical of establishment surveys, but given the impact these inaccuracies may have on the results, adjustments were needed when computing the appropriate weights for individual observations. The percentage of confirmed non-eligible units as a proportion of the total number of contacts to complete the survey was 28% (572 out of 2041 establishments).

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The current survey instruments are available: - Core Questionnaire + Manufacturing Module [ISIC Rev.3.1: 15-37] - Core Questionnaire + Retail Module [ISIC Rev.3.1: 52] - Core Questionnaire [ISIC Rev.3.1: 45, 50, 51, 55, 60-64, 72] - Screener Questionnaire.

The “Core Questionnaire” is the heart of the Enterprise Survey and contains the survey questions asked of all firms across the world. There are also two other survey instruments- the “Core Questionnaire + Manufacturing Module” and the “Core Questionnaire + Retail Module.” The survey is fielded via three instruments in order to not ask questions that are irrelevant to specific types of firms, e.g. a question that relates to production and nonproduction workers should not be asked of a retail firm. In addition to questions that are asked across countries, all surveys are customized and contain country-specific questions. An example of customization would be including tourism-related questions that are asked in certain countries when tourism is an existing or potential sector of economic growth.

The standard Enterprise Survey topics include firm characteristics, gender participation, access to finance, annual sales, costs of inputs/labor, workforce composition, bribery, licensing, infrastructure, trade, crime, competition, capacity utilization, land and permits, taxation, informality, business-government relations, innovation and technology, and performance measures. Over 90% of the questions objectively ascertain characteristics of a country’s business environment. The remaining questions assess the survey respondents’ opinions on what are the obstacles to firm growth and performance.

Cleaning operations

Data entry and quality controls are implemented by the contractor and data is delivered to the World Bank in batches (typically 10%, 50% and 100%). These data deliveries are checked for logical consistency, out of range values, skip patterns, and duplicate entries. Problems are flagged by the World Bank and corrected by the implementing contractor through data checks, callbacks, and revisiting establishments.

Response rate

Complete information regarding the sampling methodology, sample frame, weights, response rates, and implementation can be found in the document "Description of Czech Republic Implementation 2009.pdf"

Abstract

This research was conducted in Ecuador between June and October 2010 as part of the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) Enterprise Survey 2010, an initiative of the World Bank. Data from 366 establishments was analyzed.

The objective of the study is to obtain feedback from enterprises in client countries on the state of the private sector as well as to help in building a panel of enterprise data that will make it possible to track changes in the business environment over time, thus allowing, for example, impact assessments of reforms. Through face-to-face interviews with firms in the manufacturing and services sectors, the survey assesses the constraints to private sector growth and creates statistically significant business environment indicators that are comparable across countries.

The standard Enterprise Survey topics include firm characteristics, gender participation, access to finance, annual sales, costs of inputs/labor, workforce composition, bribery, licensing, infrastructure, trade, crime, competition, capacity utilization, land and permits, taxation, informality, business-government relations, innovation and technology, and performance measures. Over 90% of the questions objectively ascertain characteristics of a country’s business environment. The remaining questions assess the survey respondents’ opinions on what are the obstacles to firm growth and performance.

Geographic coverage

National

Analysis unit

The primary sampling unit of the study is the establishment. An establishment is a physical location where business is carried out and where industrial operations take place or services are provided. A firm may be composed of one or more establishments. For example, a brewery may have several bottling plants and several establishments for distribution. For the purposes of this survey an establishment must make its own financial decisions and have its own financial statements separate from those of the firm. An establishment must also have its own management and control over its payroll.

Universe

The whole population, or the universe, covered in the Enterprise Surveys is the non-agricultural economy. It comprises: all manufacturing sectors according to the ISIC Revision 3.1 group classification (group D), construction sector (group F), services sector (groups G and H), and transport, storage, and communications sector (group I). Note that this population definition excludes the following sectors: financial intermediation (group J), real estate and renting activities (group K, except sub-sector 72, IT, which was added to the population under study), and all public or utilities sectors.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The study was conducted using stratified random sampling. Three levels of stratification were used in the sample: firm sector, firm size, and geographic region.

Industry stratification was designed in the way that follows: the universe was stratified into 1 manufacturing industry, 1 service industry -retail -, and 1 residual sector. The manufacturing industry, service industry, and residual sectors had a target each of 120 interviews.

Size stratification was defined following the standardized definition for the Enterprise Surveys: small (5 to 19 employees), medium (20 to 99 employees), and large (more than 99 employees). For stratification purposes, the number of employees was defined on the basis of reported permanent full-time workers. This seems to be an appropriate definition of the labor force since seasonal/casual/part-time employment is not a common practice, except in the sectors of construction and agriculture.

Regional stratification was defined in three locations (city and the surrounding business area): Pichincha, Guayas, and Azuay.

For Ecuador, two sample frames were used. The first was supplied by the World Bank and consists of enterprises interviewed in Ecuador 2006. The World Bank required that attempts should be made to re-interview establishments responding to the Ecuador 2006 survey where they were within the selected geographical locations and met eligibility criteria. That sample is referred to as the Panel. The second sample frame from the Official data base obtained from the Superintendence of Companies. A copy of that frames was sent to the TNS statistical team in London to select the establishments for interview.

The quality of the frame was assessed at the onset of the project through visits to a random subset of firms and local contractor knowledge. The sample frame was not immune from the typical problems found in establishment surveys: positive rates of non-eligibility, repetition, non-existent units, etc. In addition, the sample frame contains no telephone/fax numbers so the local contractor had to screen the contacts by visiting them. Due to response rate and ineligibility issues, additional sample had to be extracted by the World Bank in order to obtain enough eligible contacts and meet the sample targets.

Given the impact that non-eligible units included in the sample universe may have on the results, adjustments may be needed when computing the appropriate weights for individual observations. The percentage of confirmed non-eligible units as a proportion of the total number of sampled establishments contacted for the survey was 6.20% (59 out of 951 establishments).

Complete information regarding the sampling methodology, sample frame, weights, response rates, and implementation can be found in "Description of Ecuador Implementation" in "Technical documents" folder.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The current survey instruments are available: - Core Questionnaire + Manufacturing Module - Core Questionnaire + Retail Module - Core Questionnaire - Screener Questionnaire

The "Core Questionnaire" is the heart of the Enterprise Survey and contains the survey questions asked of all firms across the world. There are also two other survey instruments - the "Core Questionnaire + Manufacturing Module" and the "Core Questionnaire + Retail Module." The survey is fielded via three instruments in order to not ask questions that are irrelevant to specific types of firms, e.g. a question that relates to production and nonproduction workers should not be asked of a retail firm. In addition to questions that are asked across countries, all surveys are customized and contain country-specific questions. An example of customization would be including tourism-related questions that are asked in certain countries when tourism is an existing or potential sector of economic growth.

The standard Enterprise Survey topics include firm characteristics, gender participation, access to finance, annual sales, costs of inputs/labor, workforce composition, bribery, licensing, infrastructure, trade, crime, competition, capacity utilization, land and permits, taxation, informality, business-government relations, innovation and technology, and performance measures. The questionnaire also assesses the survey respondents' opinions on what are the obstacles to firm growth and performance.

Cleaning operations

Data entry and quality controls are implemented by the contractor and data is delivered to the World Bank in batches (typically 10%, 50% and 100%). These data deliveries are checked for logical consistency, out of range values, skip patterns, and duplicate entries. Problems are flagged by the World Bank and corrected by the implementing contractor through data checks, callbacks, and revisiting establishments.

Response rate

The number of realized interviews per contacted establishment was 0.38. This number is the result of two factors: explicit refusals to participate in the survey, as reflected by the rate of rejection (which includes rejections of the screener and the main survey) and the quality of the sample frame, as represented by the presence of ineligible units. The number of rejections per contact was 0.39.

Complete information regarding the sampling methodology, sample frame, weights, response rates, and implementation can be found in "Description of Ecuador Implementation" in "Technical documents" folder.

Abstract

Objectives of the Survey The main objective of this survey is to provide statistical data on ICT for the enterprises in the Palestinian Territory. The specific objectives can be summarized in the following: ·Enriching ICT statistical data on the actual use and access by the economic enterprises of ICT. ·Identifying the characteristics of the tools and means of ICT used in the economic activity, the type of economic activity and size of enterprises. ·Providing opportunity for international and regional comparisons which helps in knowing the location of the Palestinian Territory among the technological world countries. ·Assisting planners and policy makers in understanding the current status of the Technology-Based Economy in the Palestinian Territory, which helps to meet the future needs of the Palestinian economy.

Geographic coverage

The Data are representative at region level (West Bank, Gaza Strip),

Analysis unit

• Enterprises

Universe

The enterprises in the Palestinian Territory

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Sample Size and Design Frame

Target Population The target population consists of all operating private establishments in the Palestinian Territ.

Sampling Frame The sampling frame is the list of all operating private establishments enumerated in the Establishments Census 2007.

Sample Size The sample size is 1,905 establishments, of which 1,591 are establishments in the West Bank and 314 establishments in Gaza Strip.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

In light of identifying data requirements, the survey instrument was developed following a review of international recommendations and experiences of countries in this area, and the experience of the BICT survey 2007 that implemented by PCBS. In addition to identification information and data quality control, BICT survey 2009 instrument consists of one main section studied the mechanisms and characteristics of use and access for the basic tools of ICT such as telephone, mobile phone, computer, internet, intranet, extranet, and e-commerce transactions on technology by the economic establishments in the Palestinian Territory. The survey aims mainly to provide comprehensive statistical data on the availability of the means, access and use of ICT tools in the establishments by the major economic activities, employment size, places and different goals as well as main features for the use of ICT.

Cleaning operations

Data Editing The project's management developed a clear mechanism for editing the data and trained the team of editors accordingly. The mechanism was as follows: · Receiving completed questionnaires on a daily basis; · Checking each questionnaire to make sure that they were completed and that the data covered all eligible enterprises. Checks also focused on the accuracy of the answers to the questions. Returning the uncompleted questionnaires as well as those with errors to the field for completion

Response rate

The survey sample consists of about 3,011 establishments; 1,905 establishments completed the interview, of which 1,591 establishments were in the West Bank and 314 establishments in Gaza Strip. The response rate was 66.0%.

Abstract

In line with PCBS policy that has to do with disseminating official Palestinian statistics, the ICT Business survey, 2021 aims to provide statistical information for decision makers. These data make a substantial contribution toward enriching the database on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) by providing a set of indicators that are important in order to meet local needs and are consistent with international recommendations. The ICT indicators help to determine the extent of progress and economic growth in the Palestinian economy through the revolutionary impact of information and communication technologies that have become a feature of this era.

This survey studied the mechanisms and characteristics of use and access to the basic tools of ICT, such as (mobile phones, computers, internet, in addition to a group of advanced technologies that have been increasingly used in recent times). The survey aims primarily to provide comprehensive statistical data on the availability and use of ICT tools in economic enterprises according to their major economic activities, workforce size, location and goals, in addition to the main features of ICT use.

Geographic coverage

Palestine

Analysis unit

Enterprises

Universe

Target Population Target population of ICT business survey included of all -profit non-governmental enterprises that work in any of the following activities (industry, construction, internal trade, services transportation and storage, information and communication, finance and insurance).

Sampling Frame The sampling frame is the list of all economic enterprises that work in any of the following activities (industry, construction, internal trade, services transportation and storage, information and communication, finance and insurance) enumerated in the Establishments Census, 2017.

Sample Size The estimated sample size is 3,615 economic enterprises, of which 2,872 economic enterprises responded (2,051 in the West Bank and 821 in Gaza Strip).

Sampling Design The sample is a regular stratified random sample of one stage.

Sample Strata Enterprises have been divided into three levels, they are namely: First level, geographical classification of enterprises and was classified into two regions: The West Bank and Gaza Strip. Second Level, economic activity of the enterprises was classified according to (ISIC-4) 2 digits. Third level, employment size category of the enterprises was classified according to the number of employees as follow: 1. Enterprises that employ 4 employed persons and less. 2. Enterprises that employ 5-10 employed persons. 3. Enterprises that employ 11-29 employed persons. 4. Enterprises that employ 30 employed persons and more.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The sample of the economic surveys series was One-Stage Stratified Systematic Random Sample in which enterprises were divided into two types: the first type covered overall enterprises taken comprehensively, the second type covered enterprises selected in a systematic random way in which the enterprise constituted the sampling unit. Three levels of strata were used to draw up an efficient representative sample: 1. The frame was divided into two geographical locations: the West Bank excluding that part of Jerusalem governorate which was forcefully annexed by Israel following its occupation of the West Bank in 1967, and the Gaza Strip. 2. Strata were created based on the fourth digit of ISIC-4, excluding services sector based on the second in which every activity presents an actual stratum. 3. Within each stratum, new strata were created according to employment size.

According to services sector profit and non-profit enterprises are taking into consideration as a forth level.

The sample size in Palestine (excludes that part of Jerusalem governorate which was forcefully annexed by Israel following its occupation of the West Bank in 1967) in 2016 was 9,491 enterprises out of 143,140 enterprises comprising the survey sampling frame.

Mode of data collection

Computer Assisted Personal Interview [capi]

Research instrument

All of the economic surveys series used the same questionnaire, with a few different characteristics for each survey. The design of the 2016 questionnaire takes into account the major economic variables pertaining to the sector examined and the needs to be met to compile the National Accounts for Palestine. The questionnaire included these variables: 1. The employed persons in enterprise and compensation of these employees. 2. Value of output from the main activity and secondary activity. 3. Production inputs of goods and services. 4. Payments and transfers. 5. Taxes on production. 6. Assets and capital formation.

Cleaning operations

·A specialized field work team with a background in economics was selected and trained theoretically and practically on the surveys' questionnaire. ·The main field work team was selected based on skills acquired from the training course. ·Project management received a daily report on the progress and response rates. ·Programs were designed to check and extract data through the web by project management and field work supervisors. ·A refreshment training course was conducted during the stage of data collection to reinforce the main points made during the training, and to answer questions by field workers about issues they faced in the field. ·Field visits were conducted from the project management team to check and progress of work for all governorates in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. ·Editing: PC-Tablets were used in collecting data in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the sample was loaded onto the tablets and automated rules applied to the program. ·Coding: After finishing editing process, the completed questionnaires are subject to coding process to be prepared to the data entry process. ·Creation of a data entry program prior to the collection of data to ensure this would be ready in advance. ·A set of validation rules were applied to the program to check the consistency of data. · The efficiency of the program was pre-tested by entering several questionnaires including incorrect information and checking its efficiency in capturing the incorrect information

Response rate

Response rate:93.3%..

Sampling error estimates

Sampling Errors Data of this survey affected by sampling errors due to use of the sample and. Therefore, certain differences were expected in comparison with the real values obtained through censuses. Variance were calculated for the most important indicators as shown in tables below. Dissemination of results at the national level did not pose a problem, but there was high variance in some variables.

Non Sampling Error These types of errors could appear on one or on all of the survey stages that include data collection and data entry; they related to, respondents, fieldworkers, and data entry personnel. To avoid errors and mitigate their impact, a number of procedures were applied to enhance the accuracy of the data through a process of data collection from the field and data processing.

Abstract

The 2019 Lao PDR Informal Sector Business Survey (ISBS) data was collected by the World Bank Group - Enterprise Analysis Unit. The survey covers two cities: Vientiane and Pakse.

The primary objectives of the survey are: i) to understand the business demographics of the sector in the two cities, and ii) to describe the environment within which these businesses operate. A secondary objective of the survey is to provide an estimate of the number of informal businesses operating in these cities.

Geographic coverage

The survey covers two cities: Vientiane and Pakse.

Analysis unit

Unit of analysis is informal business, where informality is defined based on whether or not a business is formally registered with the government.

Universe

The universe includes informal businesses, where informality is defined based on whether or not a business is formally registered with the government.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The 2019 Lao PDR ISBS uses an innovative technique to survey informal businesses. The survey follows an area-based sampling methodology with geographic area rather than an establishment or a business unit as a primary sampling unit. To account for potential clustering of informal business, the survey uses an area-based sampling called (stratified) Adaptive Cluster Sampling (ACS), whereby one selects a sample of starting squares and adaptively samples surrounding squares based on the number of informal firms discovered in the enumerated squares. All informal business in selected squares are enumerated using a 2 to 3-minutes questionnaire, referred to in this document as the short-form questionnaire. The short form questionnaire is a listing questionnaire where basic information about the business is collected. A randomly selected subset of the enumerated businesses is given a 20-minutes questionnaire, referred to in this document as the long-form questionnaire. This is the main questionnaire of the survey and the basis of the database posted on the ES portal.

The survey is adaptive in the sense that if the number of informal units in a square exceeds a predefined threshold, all the squares surrounding the starting square are surveyed, following the same approach of enumeration and randomly conducting the main interview. If one of the surrounding squares exceed the threshold, then the squares surrounding that square in turn are also surveyed. This process continues until either the network is exhausted, or an arbitrary cut-off point is defined.

The first step in the sampling approach is the construction of a spatial grid as the Primary Sampling Units (PSU) frame. The grid covered the total of municipal areas and each cell had a size of 150 by 150 meters. This produced a total of about 17,400 squares between the two cities, excluding squares that are considered inaccessible. The second step was to stratify each grid, with in each city, based on likely concentration of informal business units. The grids were categorized into four strata: three strata of low, medium, and high concentration of informal sector activity, and a market center. The stratification was based on local knowledge of the survey implementing contractor with approval from the World Bank Group task team leader. The third step in the sampling process was to select a pre-defined number of starting squares from each stratum for enumeration and main data.

Mode of data collection

Computer Assisted Personal Interview [capi]

Research instrument

The survey data was collected using a standardized questionnaire, i.e., the long-form questionnaire. The questionnaire was developed building on previous modules used by the Enterprise Analysis Unit of the World Bank to survey informal businesses.

The survey data are used to gather information specifically tailored to the Federal Reserve’s policy and operational responsibilities. The frequency and content of the questions, as well as the entities contacted, vary depending on developments in the economy.

Release Date: 2023-10-26.The Census Bureau has reviewed this data product for unauthorized disclosure of confidential information and has approved the disclosure avoidance practices applied (Approval ID: CBDRB-FY23-0479)...Release Schedule:.Data in this file come from estimates of business ownership by sex, ethnicity, race, and veteran status from the 2022 Annual Business Survey (ABS) collection. Data are also obtained from administrative records, the 2017 Economic Census, and other economic surveys...Note: The collection year is the year in which the data are collected. A reference year is the year that is referenced in the questions on the survey and in which the statistics are tabulated. For example, the 2022 ABS collection year produces statistics for the 2021 reference year. The "Year" column in the table is the reference year...For more information about ABS planned data product releases, see Tentative ABS Schedule...Key Table Information:.This is the only table in the ABS series to provide information on select economic and demographic characteristics of business owners (CBO) for U.S. employer firms that reported the sex, ethnicity, race, and veteran status for up to four persons owning the largest percentage(s) of the business. The data include estimates for owners of U.S. respondent firms with paid employees operating during the reference year with receipts of $1,000 or more, which are classified in the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), Sectors 11 through 99, except for NAICS 111, 112, 482, 491, 521, 525, 813, 814, and 92 which are not covered. Owners of employer firms with more than one domestic establishment are counted in each geographic area and industry in which the firm operates, but only once in the U.S. and state totals for all sectors. Firms are asked to report their employees as of the March 12 pay period...Data Items and Other Identifying Records:.Data include estimates on:.Number of owners of respondent employer firms. Percent of number of owners of respondent employer firms (%)...These data are aggregated at the owner level for up to four persons owning the largest percentages of the business by the following demographic classifications:.All owners of respondent firms. Sex. Female. Male. . . Ethnicity. Hispanic. Non-Hispanic. . . Race. White. Black or African American. American Indian and Alaska Native. Asian. Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander. Minority (Firms classified as any race and ethnicity combination other than non-Hispanic and White). Nonminority (Firms classified as non-Hispanic and White). . . Veteran Status (defined as having served in any branch of the U.S. Armed Forces). Veteran. Nonveteran. . . ...Data Notes:.. Data are tabulated at the owner level.. Respondents are informed that Hispanic origins are not races and are instructed to answer both the Hispanic origin and race questions.. An owner can be tabulated in more than one racial group. This can result because:. The sole owner was reported to be of more than one race.. The majority owner was reported to be of more than one race.. A majority combination of owners was reported to be of more than one race.. . An owner cannot be tabulated with two mutually exclusive demographic classifications (e.g. both as a veteran and a nonveteran.). CBO data are not designed to produce estimates for all U.S. business owners as information was only collected for up to four owners per firm. Researchers analyzing data to create their own estimates are responsible for the validity of those estimates and should cite the Census Bureau as the source of the original data only.. Percent values may exceed 100 due to noise....Owner Characteristics:.The ABS asked for information for up to four persons owning the largest percentage(s) of the business. Respondent firms include all firms that responded to the characteristics tabulated in this dataset and that reported sex, ethnicity, race, or veteran status for at least one business owner so that the classification of owners of respondent firms by sex, ethnicity, race, and veteran status could be determined. Furthermore, the ABS was designed to include select questions about owner characteristics from multiple reference periods and to incorporate new content each survey year based on topics of relevance. Percentages are for owners of respondent firms only and are not recalculated when the dataset is resorted. Percentages are always based on total reporting (defined above) within a sex, ethnicity, race, veteran status, and/or industry group for the characteristics tabulated in this dataset...Owner characteristic topics for the 2022 ABS included in this table are the following: ..Year Acquired Ownership of Business (YRACQBUS).Primary Source of Income...

This table contains seasonally corrected information about the opinions of Dutch entrepreneurs about developments, expectations and judgments regarding their business. The questions submitted to the entrepreneurs relate among other things to turnover, prices, staff size, economic climate and profitability. The data can be broken down into business activities according to the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC 2008).

Seasonal adjustment involves correcting for a more or less fixed seasonal pattern as a result of circumstances in the different seasons. The applied seasonal correction allows direct comparison of figures from successive periods.

Data available from: January 2012

Status of the figures: The figures in this table are definite.

Changes as of February 27th 2025: Figures of February 2025 have been added.

When will new figures be published? Figures of March are expected to be published the 28th of March 2025.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS, formerly the Business Impact of COVID-19 Survey) is a voluntary fortnightly survey of businesses developed to deliver timely indicators to help understand the impact of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). The scope of the survey has been expanded to explore other economic-related issues such as the European Union transition period (Brexit). The survey captures businesses responses on how their turnover, workforce, prices, trade and business resilience have been affected in the two week reference period.

The data should be treated with caution as results reflect the characteristics of those who responded and not necessarily the wider business population. Comparison of the proportions of businesses' trading status between waves should be treated with caution because of the voluntary nature of the survey, the difference in response rates and dependency on those businesses that only responded in particular waves. These data should not be used in place of official statistics. The survey was designed to give an indication of the impact of the coronavirus on businesses and a timelier estimate than other surveys. The latest publications from the survey can be found on the ONS Business Services webpage.
Linking to other business studiesThese data contain IDBR reference numbers. These are anonymous but unique reference numbers assigned to business organisations. Their inclusion allows researchers to combine different business survey sources together. Researchers may consider applying for other business data to assist their research.
Latest edition information
For the twenty-eighth edition (November 2024), data and documentation for Wave 115 have been added to the study.
Main Topics:

BICS covers questions relating to:

• financial performance of the business
• operational performance of the business
• other financial or operational issues

A full list of variables available for each wave is included in the BICS Variable Catalogue, Questionnaires and Data Dictionaries, which are part of the study documentation.

Abstract

The World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) is a firm-level survey of a representative sample of an economy's private sector. The surveys cover a broad range of topics related to the business environment including access to finance, corruption, infrastructure, competition, and performance.

Geographic coverage

National coverage

Analysis unit

The primary sampling unit of the study is the establishment. An establishment is a physical location where business is carried out and where industrial operations take place or services are provided. A firm may be composed of one or more establishments. For example, a brewery may have several bottling plants and several establishments for distribution. For the purposes of this survey an establishment must make its own financial decisions and have its own financial statements separate from those of the firm. An establishment must also have its own management and control over its payroll.

Universe

The universe of inference includes all formal (i.e., registered) private sector businesses (with at least 1% private ownership) and with at least five employees. In terms of sectoral criteria, all manufacturing businesses (ISIC Rev 4. codes 10-33) are eligible; for services businesses, those corresponding to the ISIC Rev 4 codes 41-43, 45-47, 49-53, 55-56, 58, 61-62, 69-75, 79, and 95 are included in the Enterprise Surveys. Cooperatives and collectives are excluded from the Enterprise Surveys. All eligible establishments must be registered with the registration agency. In the case of Tanzania, registration was with Business Registration and Licensing Agency (BRELA).

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The WBES use stratified random sampling, where the population of establishments is first separated into non-overlapping groups, called strata, and then respondents are selected through simple random sampling from each stratum. The detailed methodology is provided in the Sampling Note (https://www.enterprisesurveys.org/content/dam/enterprisesurveys/documents/methodology/Sampling_Note-Consolidated-2-16-22.pdf). Stratified random sampling has several advantages over simple random sampling. In particular, it:

• produces unbiased estimates of the whole population or universe of inference, as well as at the levels of stratification
• ensures representativeness by including observations in all of those categories
• produces more precise estimates for a given sample size or budget allocation, and
• may reduce implementation costs by splitting the population into convenient subdivisions.

The WBES typically use three levels of stratification: industry classification, establishment size, and subnational region (used in combination). Starting in 2022, the WBES bases the industry classification on ISIC Rev. 4 (with earlier surveys using ISIC Rev. 3.1). For regional coverage within a country, the WBES has national coverage.

Note: Refer to Sampling Structure section in "The Tanzania 2023 World Bank Enterprise Survey Implementation Report" for detailed methodology on sampling.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The standard WBES questionnaire covers several topics regarding the business environment and business performance. These topics include general firm characteristics, infrastructure, sales and supplies, management practices, competition, innovation, capacity, land and permits, finance, business-government relations, exposure to bribery, labor, and performance. Information about the general structure of the questionnaire is available in the Enterprise Surveys Manual and Guide (https://www.enterprisesurveys.org/content/dam/enterprisesurveys/documents/methodology/Enterprise-Surveys-Manual-and-Guide.pdf).

The questionnaire implemented in the Tanzania 2023 WBES included additional questions tailored for the Business Ready Report covering infrastructure, trade, government regulations, finance, labor, and other topics. Furthermore, the survey also includes Tanzania specific questions covering issues related to mobile banking and digital payments and trade linkages among firms. The Tanzania specific questions were selected in collaboration with colleagues from other part of World Bank.

Response rate

Overall survey response rate was 40.7%.

Abstract

The survey was conducted in Mali between May and November 2010 as part of the Africa Enterprise Survey 2010, an initiative of the World Bank. Data from 360 establishments were analyzed.

The objective of the survey is to obtain feedback from enterprises on the state of the private sector as well as to help in building a panel of enterprise data that will make it possible to track changes in the business environment over time, thus allowing, for example, impact assessments of reforms. Through interviews with firms in the manufacturing and services sectors, the survey assesses the constraints to private sector growth and creates statistically significant business environment indicators that are comparable across countries.

The standard Enterprise Survey topics include firm characteristics, gender participation, access to finance, annual sales, costs of inputs/labor, workforce composition, bribery, licensing, infrastructure, trade, crime, competition, capacity utilization, land and permits, taxation, informality, business-government relations, innovation and technology, and performance measures. Over 90% of the questions objectively ascertain characteristics of a country’s business environment. The remaining questions assess the survey respondents’ opinions on what are the obstacles to firm growth and performance. The mode of data collection is face-to-face interviews.

Geographic coverage

National

Analysis unit

The primary sampling unit of the study is the establishment. An establishment is a physical location where business is carried out and where industrial operations take place or services are provided. A firm may be composed of one or more establishments. For example, a brewery may have several bottling plants and several establishments for distribution. For the purposes of this survey an establishment must make its own financial decisions and have its own financial statements separate from those of the firm. An establishment must also have its own management and control over its payroll.

Universe

The whole population, or the universe, covered in the Enterprise Surveys is the non-agricultural private economy. It comprises: all manufacturing sectors according to the ISIC Revision 3.1 group classification (group D), construction sector (group F), services sector (groups G and H), and transport, storage, and communications sector (group I). Note that this population definition excludes the following sectors: financial intermediation (group J), real estate and renting activities (group K, except sub-sector 72, IT, which was added to the population under study), and all public or utilities sectors. Companies with 100% government ownership are not eligible to participate in the Enterprise Surveys.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The sample for Mali was selected using stratified random sampling. Three levels of stratification were used in this country: firm sector, firm size, and geographic region.

For industry stratification, universe was divided into one manufacturing industry, one service industry (retail), and one residual sector. The manufacturing industry, service industry, and residual sectors had a target each of 120 interviews.

Size stratification was defined following the standardized definition for the Enterprise Surveys: small (5 to 19 employees), medium (20 to 99 employees), and large (more than 99 employees). For stratification purposes, the number of employees was defined on the basis of reported permanent full-time workers. This seems to be an appropriate definition of the labor force since seasonal/casual/part-time employment is not a common practice, except in the sectors of construction and agriculture.

Regional stratification was defined in four regions (city and the surrounding business area): Bamako, Mopti, Segou, and Sikasso.

In Mali, two sample frames were used.

The first was supplied by the World Bank and consists of enterprises interviewed in Mali 2007. The World Bank required that attempts should be made to re-interview establishments responding to the Mali 2007 survey where they were within the selected geographical regions and met eligibility criteria. Due to the fact that the previous round of surveys seemed to have utilized different stratification criteria (or no stratification at all) and due to the prevalence of small firm in the 2007 sample the following convention was used. To avoid oversampling smaller firms and to limit the presence of Panel firms to a maximum of 50% of the achieved interviews, a decision was made to restrict the number of issued firms with less than 20 employees. That sample is referred to as the Panel.

The second was also provided to the World Bank by Mali Institut National de la Statistique (INSTAT).

The enumerated establishments were then used as the frame for the selection of a sample with the aim of obtaining interviews at 360 establishments with five or more employees.

The quality of the frame was assessed at the onset of the project through visits to a random subset of firms and local contractor knowledge. The sample frame was not immune from the typical problems found in establishment surveys: positive rates of non-eligibility, repetition, non-existent units, etc. In addition, the sample frame contains no telephone/fax numbers so the local contractor had to screen the contacts by visiting them. Due to response rate and ineligibility issues, additional sample had to be extracted by the World Bank in order to obtain enough eligible contacts and meet the sample targets.

Given the impact that non-eligible units included in the sample universe may have on the results, adjustments may be needed when computing the appropriate weights for individual observations. The percentage of confirmed non-eligible units as a proportion of the total number of sampled establishments contacted for the survey was 2.77% (22 out of 794 establishments).

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The current survey instruments are available: - Core Questionnaire + Manufacturing Module [ISIC Rev.3.1: 15-37] - Core Questionnaire + Retail Module [ISIC Rev.3.1: 52] - Core Questionnaire [ISIC Rev.3.1: 45, 50, 51, 55, 60-64, 72] - Screener Questionnaire.

The “Core Questionnaire” is the heart of the Enterprise Survey and contains the survey questions asked of all firms across the world. There are also two other survey instruments - the “Core Questionnaire + Manufacturing Module” and the “Core Questionnaire + Retail Module.” The survey is fielded via three instruments in order to not ask questions that are irrelevant to specific types of firms, e.g. a question that relates to production and nonproduction workers should not be asked of a retail firm. In addition to questions that are asked across countries, all surveys are customized and contain country-specific questions. An example of customization would be including tourism-related questions that are asked in certain countries when tourism is an existing or potential sector of economic growth.

The standard Enterprise Survey topics include firm characteristics, gender participation, access to finance, annual sales, costs of inputs/labor, workforce composition, bribery, licensing, infrastructure, trade, crime, competition, capacity utilization, land and permits, taxation, informality, business-government relations, innovation and technology, and performance measures. Over 90% of the questions objectively ascertain characteristics of a country’s business environment. The remaining questions assess the survey respondents’ opinions on what are the obstacles to firm growth and performance.

Cleaning operations

Data entry and quality controls are implemented by the contractor and data is delivered to the World Bank in batches (typically 10%, 50% and 100%). These data deliveries are checked for logical consistency, out of range values, skip patterns, and duplicate entries. Problems are flagged by the World Bank and corrected by the implementing contractor through data checks, callbacks, and revisiting establishments.

Response rate

Survey non-response must be differentiated from item non-response. The former refers to refusals to participate in the survey altogether whereas the latter refers to the refusals to answer some specific questions. Enterprise Surveys suffer from both problems and different strategies were used to address these issues.

Item non-response was addressed by two strategies: a- For sensitive questions that may generate negative reactions from the respondent, such as corruption or tax evasion, enumerators were instructed to collect "Refusal to respond" (-8) as a different option from "Don't know" (-9). b- Establishments with incomplete information were re-contacted in order to complete this information, whenever necessary.

Survey non-response was addressed by maximizing efforts to contact establishments that were initially selected for interview. Attempts were made to contact the establishment for interview at different times, days of the week before a replacement establishment (with similar strata characteristics) was suggested for interview. Survey non-response did occur but substitutions were made in order to potentially achieve strata-specific goals.

The number of contacted establishments per realized interview was 0.45. This number is the result of two factors - explicit refusals to participate in the survey, as reflected by the rate of rejection (which includes rejections of the screener and the main survey) and the quality of the sample frame, as represented by the